The assets recovery unit was established at the PM Office to “bring back the unlawful wealth back to Pakistan”, it said. The unit also receives complains with regard to existence of properties of Pakistanis abroad and is “duty bound to take appropriate action” once it receives a complaint. It received a complaint with respect to the foreign properties of three judges.

The recovery unit forwarded the complaint to the law and justice ministry. The assets recovery unit verified it and received “certified copies from the land registries of the relevant assets, which were duly attested by the High Commission of Pakistan in the UK and notarized in London”.

The information was shared with the Supreme Judicial Council and two references were filed, the statement said.

Reports on references have been making rounds since last week. Justice Qazi Faez Isa even wrote a letter to the president asking him whether a reference had been filed against him. Additional Attorney General Zahid F Ebrahim resigned over the reference and the Sindh High Court Bar Association and Karachi Bar Association expressed their support for the judges named in the reference.

PEMRA barred media channels from airing analysis or discussion on the topic. It served notices to 14 news channels for violations.